Business: Tax-Free G.N.P.

Winter is i-cumen in. Johnny clears the snow from Mrs. O'Leary's
driveway and makes five bucks. Does the IRS hear about it? Of course
not. But Johnny's incomeunreported and untaxed is part of what
Economics Professor Peter M. Gutmann of New York's Bernard Baruch
College calls the "subterranean economy" of the U.S., with a G.N.P.
that he calculates at $195 billion for 1977.

In a recent issue of the Financial Analysts Journal, Gutmann argues that
there is in the U.S. nearly $400 in cash per capita floating around
outside banks. With checks and credit cards,...